A pair of tiny experimental satellites trailing NASA’s InSight spacecraft all the way to Mars face their biggest test yet. Their mission: Broadcast immediate news, good or bad, of InSight’s plunge through the Martian atmosphere on Monday. Named WALL-E and EVE after the main characters in the 2008 animated movie, the twin CubeSats will pass…
Mars Revisited: NASA Spacecraft Days Away from Risky Landing
Mars is about to get its first U.S. visitor in years: a three-legged, one-armed geologist to dig deep and listen for quakes. NASA’s InSight makes its grand entrance through the rose-tinted Martian skies on Monday, after a six-month, 300 million-mile (480 million-kilometer) journey. It will be the first American spacecraft to land since the Curiosity…
Robot With Artificial Intelligence About To Invade Space
A robot with true artificial intelligence is about to invade space. The large, round, plastic robot head is part of SpaceX’s latest supply delivery to the International Space Station. Friday’s pre-dawn liftoff also includes two sets of genetically identical female mice, 20 mousestronauts that will pick up where NASA’s identical twin brother astronauts left off…
SpaceX Launches Communication Satellite, Ditches Old Booster
SpaceX has launched another satellite for a Luxembourg communication company. But it ditched the recycled booster in the Atlantic following liftoff. The Falcon 9 rocket blasted off early Monday from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The satellite operator, SES, tweeted, “What a beautiful start to the week!” The powerful, hefty SES satellite, weighing in at 12,000 pounds (5,400…
NASA Sending Robotic Geologist To Mars To Dig Super Deep
Six years after last landing on Mars, NASA is sending a robotic geologist to dig deeper than ever before to take the planet’s temperature. The Mars InSight spacecraft, set to launch this weekend, will also take the planet’s pulse by making the first measurements of “marsquakes.” And to check its reflexes, scientists will track the…
Spacewalking Astronauts Finish Months Of Robot Arm Repair
Spacewalking astronauts wrapped up months of repair work Friday on the International Space Station ‘s big robot arm. The Canadian-built, 58-foot robot arm had both of its aging mechanical hands replaced on spacewalks conducted in October and January. NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Japan’s Norishige Kanai quickly moved one of those old hands to…
SpaceX Unveils New Falcon Heavy Rocket Before January Launch
SpaceX unveiled its new Falcon Heavy rocket on Wednesday, a month before its first launch. Photos posted by SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk show the new rocket inside its Florida hangar. Missing is the cargo for the January test flight. Musk has said the Falcon Heavy will launch his own cherry-red Tesla Roadster into space. First, SpaceX…
SpaceX Launching Recycled Rocket, Supply Capsule For NASA
Space Age hand-me-downs are soaring to a whole new level. On Tuesday, SpaceX plans to launch its first recycled rocket for NASA. The unmanned Falcon 9—last used in June—will carry up a Dragon capsule that’s also flown on a previous space station supply run. NASA’s International Space Station manager, Kirk Shireman, said the risk of launching a recycled rocket…
Image Of The Day: SpaceX Racks Up Another Rocket Launch, Its 16th This Year
SpaceX has racked up another rocket launch, its 16th this year. That’s double last year’s count, and 2017 still has two months remaining. The unmanned Falcon rocket blasted off Monday afternoon from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, hoisting a communications satellite for the South Korean company KT SAT. This newest Koreasat will replace a failed satellite…
Spacewalkers Install New Hand On Station’s Robot Arm
Spacewalking astronauts gave the International Space Station’s big robot arm a new hand Thursday. Commander Randy Bresnik and Mark Vande Hei accomplished the job on the first of three NASA spacewalks planned over the next two weeks. The latching mechanism on one end of the 58-foot robot arm malfunctioned in August. It needed to be…
NASA’s Asteroid Chaser Swings By Earth On Way To Space Rock
NASA’s asteroid-chasing spacecraft swung by Earth on Friday on its way to a space rock. Launched a year ago, Osiris-Rex passed within 10,711 miles (17,237 kilometers) of the home planet early Friday afternoon—above Antarctica. It used Earth’s gravity as a slingshot to put it on a path toward the asteroid Bennu. Osiris-Rex should reach the…
SpaceX Launches Air Force’s Super-Secret Minishuttle
SpaceX launched the Air Force’s super-secret space shuttle on Thursday, a technology tester capable of spending years in orbit. The unmanned Falcon rocket blasted off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, as schools and businesses boarded up for Hurricane Irma. It’s the fifth flight for one of these crewless minishuttles, known as the X-37B Orbital Test…
NASA Launches Last Of Its Longtime Tracking Satellites
NASA launched the last of its longtime tracking and communication satellites on Friday, a vital link to astronauts in orbit as well as the Hubble Space Telescope. The end of the era came with a morning liftoff of TDRS-M, the 13th satellite in the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite network . It rode to orbit aboard an…
Spacewalking Cosmonauts Release 3-D-Printed Satellite
Spacewalking cosmonauts have set free the world’s first satellite made with a 3-D printer. Russians Fyodor Yurchikhin (FYOH-dor YOUR-cheek-in) and Sergey Ryazanskiy (SIR-gay RIH-zan-skee) ventured outside the International Space Station on Thursday. They promptly released five nanosatellites by hand. The casing of the first one tossed overboard was made entirely with a 3-D printer. Researchers…
SpaceX Dragon Delivers Scientific Bounty To Space Station
A SpaceX shipment arrived at the International Space Station on Wednesday, delivering a bonanza of science experiments. The SpaceX Dragon capsule pulled up following a two-day flight from Cape Canaveral. NASA astronaut Jack Fischer used the space station’s hefty robot arm to grab the Dragon 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the Pacific, near New Zealand.…
SpaceX Makes Good On Space Station Delivery a Little Late
SpaceX made good on a 250-mile-high delivery at the International Space Station on Thursday, after fixing a navigation problem that held up the shipment a day. Everything went smoothly the second time around as the station astronauts captured the SpaceX Dragon cargo ship as the two craft sailed over Australia. On Wednesday, a GPS system…
Space Shuttle blasts off on last night flight
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Endeavour and six astronauts rocketed into orbit Monday on what’s likely the last nighttime launch for the shuttle program, hauling a new room and observation deck for the International Space Station. The space shuttle took flight before dawn, igniting the sky with a brilliant flash seen for miles around. The weather…